Justice News

Grant County Doctor Found Guilty of 173 Drug Charges

COVINGTON, Ky. — Sundiata El-Amin, 69, a physician from Ft. Wayne, Indiana, was convicted today, by a federal jury sitting in Covington, of 173 drug trafficking offenses connected to his operation of the El-Amin Clinic, in Grant County, kentucky.

After four hours of deliberations, following a six-day trial, the jury convicted El-Amin of conspiracy to illegally distribute controlled substances, maintaining a premises for the illegal distribution of controlled substances, and 171 individual counts of illegally distributing controlled substances.

According to the evidence at trial, the Defendant conspired with his office manager to unlawfully dispense more than 300,000 oxycodone tablets, outside the scope of professional practice and without a legitimate medical purpose, over a period of approximately one year. The evidence revealed that he repeatedly issued improper prescriptions for high doses of oxycodone and regularly issued these prescriptions without examining patients.

El-Amin was indicted in December of 2015. His office manager, Wendy Price, entered a guilty plea, in February 2018, to conspiring with El-Amin to commit these offenses.

“This is another example of a medical professional being found guilty of choosing profit over medical judgment and callously fueling the opioid epidemic,” said Robert M. Duncan, Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky. “This despicable conduct represents an egregious breach of trust and does enormous damage, both to individuals struggling with addiction and to our communities. We will continue to make prosecuting this type of conduct a core priority and we want to thank our law enforcement partners for their excellent work in the investigation of this case.”

United States Attorney Duncan and Timothy J. Plancon, Special Agent in Charge, Drug Enforcement Administration, Detroit Division, jointly announced the jury’s verdict.

The investigation was conducted by the Drug Enforcement Administration. The United States was represented in the case by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Laura Voorhees and Tony Bracke.

El-Amin will appear for sentencing on July 26, 2017. He faces a maximum of 20 years in prison for each offense. However, the Court must consider the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and the applicable federal statutes before imposing a sentence.